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Tech share sell-off drags US stocks lower

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A second straight sell-off of popular technology shares has dragged US stocks lower, as tensions with Russia over Ukraine continue to keep investors on edge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 26.08 points (0.16 per cent) at 16,276.69.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 9.08 (0.49 per cent) at 1,857.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 50.40 (1.2 per cent) to 4,226.38.

The action kept up a bearish turn that took root on Friday, when the Nasdaq gave up 1.0 per cent.

On Monday the Nasdaq at one point was down more than 2.0 per cent, before halving that loss.

Besides the already heady valuations, ongoing worries that Russia might launch an additional land-grab in Ukraine after annexing Crimea lay behind the selling.

In addition, a turn lower for HSBC’s purchasing manager index for China suggested weaker growth than expected in that key economy.

Some of the most popular Nasdaq counters took sharp falls: LinkedIn (-4.4 per cent), Priceline (-3.32 per cent), Facebook (-4.7 per cent), Netflix (-6.7 per cent), Tesla (-3.8 per cent) and Twitter (-4.2 per cent).

“People are starting to be a bit nervous about the valuations of some of the high-flyers,” said Peter Coleman of ConvergEx group.

Online music streamer Pandora Media took a 7.7 per cent fall after Apple was reported in talks to stream its services via Comcast’s network and also exploring an iTunes app for Android devices that could compete with Pandora.

Apple gained 1.2 per cent and Comcast 0.6 per cent.

Trade was heavy in biotech stocks: Gilead Sciences overcame early losses to add 0.1 per cent, while Biogen Idec slid 1.8 per cent on top of its 10 per cent loss between Wednesday and Friday last week.

Procter and Gamble led the Dow gainers up 1.8 per cent, while Pfizer was the biggest loser, its shares down 2.1 per cent after the release of disappointing results of clinical tests on its Tofacitinib psoriasis treatment.

Bond prices were higher. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.73 per cent from 2.74 per cent late on Friday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.57 per cent from 3.61 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.